A Q Khan world's greatest proliferator, says US

April 23, 2009 04:09 IST

Pakistan's rogue nuclear scientist A Q Khan is world's greatest proliferator, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today.

"With respect to A Q Khan, there's no doubt he is probably the world's greatest proliferator. The damage that he's done around the world has been incalculable," Clinton said in response to a question from a lawmaker at the HouseCommittee on Foreign Affairs.

Khan, who was slapped with US sanctions along with those on his network, was released by a Pakistani court from years of house arrest early this year.

"We have made it very clear that the network had to be dismantled and it was. There are people who were connectedwith A Q Khan who are out of business or who were imprisoned. And there are ongoing efforts to continue to obtain useful information," Clinton said.

When asked about the conditions to be imposed on Pakistan in lieu of the billions of dollars of US aid, she said. "We do think that there need to be the right kind of conditions".

"It's a little bit like the Goldilocks story. If they're too weak, we don't get changes. If they're too strong, we get a backlash. So we're trying to figure out sort of what is the area that will influence behaviour and produce results,"Clinton said.